How to (effectively) play on social media

Caitlin AdamsonApr / 28 / 2017

Social media is a business owner’s playground. Who doesn’t love taking a break from crunching numbers to post a happy snap of your team on Facebook?

The trouble with social media is that it can eat up your time and money faster than you can say #Instafamous. If you approach it with a plan in mind, you will be well on your way to effective social media. Fun included.

Get creative

Your guests are hungry for more video content. Static images might be eye-catching, but moving content will help attract your audience’s attention when they’re mindlessly scrolling through their social feeds.

It’s not as intimidating as it sounds. Your smartphone is a goldmine when it comes to video content creation. Simply using your mobile’s camera features such as slo-mo and time lapse can make for edgy video content that catches the eye and encourages engagement.

Think ahead

Scheduling content is an easy, breezy tactic for your social media. Not only does it mean you can plan out your strategy, but you can save time each day trying to figure out what to post next.

There are plenty of scheduling tools available to make your life easy. Facebook is simple, with their own user-friendly scheduling tool built in. Otherwise there’s Hootsuite, which is perfect for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It also allows you to check your analytics after your posts have gone live.

For Instagram, Schedugram is the best tool for gram-worthy content as it automatically posts your content for you.

Be thrifty

Social media advertising is an effective way to advertise your business at a relatively low cost. However, the cost of Facebook ads in particular are rising and small businesses may start to struggle to afford regular campaigns.

Stay engaged

Comments from your community are one of the best forms of engagement you can hope for on social media. You’ve worked hard to break down barriers with your customers online, so if someone decides to interact and comment on your content, make sure you respond!

Don’t wait for a direct question. If they pay your business a compliment or contribute to your conversation, write them back to share the love! Even if they just tag their pal and nothing else, hit that ‘like’ button to let them know you appreciate their interaction.

Caitlin Adamson

Caitlin Adamson is a passionate creative and analytical thinker who brings her love for the written word to the marketing world. She brings her fresh outlook to the Shortcuts team and strives to create strategic and engaging collateral to help salons, spas, clinics and barbers to tackle their business endeavours with confidence.

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